Capitalism is under attack. Defenders say that capitalism has
raised billions of people from poverty. But a central activity of
capitalism today, Wall Street style, is speculation (gambling),
using other people's money, and privatizing the profits while
socializing the debts. Skeptics argue that capitalism has
redistributed the wealth of the planet in favor of a very few,
meanwhile leaving the planet in bad shape and leaving billions of
people out in the cold. Wealth is now extremely mal-distributed,
opportunity is far from equal, and upward social mobility has
declined significantly in recent decades. This book reviews the
evidence and arguments pro and con in considerable detail. The
evidence is mixed. The main virtue of capitalism is its emphasis on
competition as a driver of innovation and, thus, of economic
growth. It is true that economic growth has accelerated in recent
centuries, and it is true that billions of people have been lifted
from poverty. But it is not necessarily true that intense "winner
take all" competition in the marketplace is the explanation for
growth. Neoclassical economic theory posits that self-interest is
the primary motive for all economic decisions, leaving little room
for cooperation and even less for altruism. The theory applies to
an unrealistic "model" of human behavior, known as Homo economicus
or "economic man", whose characteristic activity is buying or
selling. The reason for using the adjective word "social" - as in
socialism" or "social service" or "social democracy" -- is,
essentially, to deny those postulates of standard economic theory.
Real humans are not rational utility maximizers (whatever that is)
and very often do things that are not in their own personal best
interests. This can happen because other interests, such as family
loyalty, professional, religious, or patriotic duty, may take
precedence. Real people rarely behave like Homo economicus, who has
rivals but no friends. He (or she) does not trust anyone, hence
cannot cooperate with others, and can never create, or live in, a
viable social system (or marriage). Yet social systems, ranging
from families and tribes to firms, cities, and nations do (and
must) exist or civilization cannot exist. A viable social system
must not allow "winner takes all". It must reallocate some of the
societal wealth being created by competitive activities to support
the young, the old and the weak, because all of those people have
equal rights, if not the same luck or the same skills. Both
competition and cooperation have important roles to play. A hybrid
capitalism involving both is the only viable solution. The book
ends with a specific suggestion, namely Universal Basic Income, or
UBI.
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